1.
3rd (Ambala) Cavalry Brigade
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The Ambala Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Indian Army formed in 1904 as a result of the Kitchener Reforms. It was mobilized as 3rd Cavalry Brigade at the outbreak of the First World War as part of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division and it served on the Western Front with the 1st and 2nd Indian Cavalry Divisions until it was broken up in March 1918. Kitchener identified the Indian Armys main task as the defence of the North-West Frontier against foreign aggression with internal security relegated to a secondary role, the Army was organized into divisions and brigades that would act as field formations but also included internal security troops. The Ambala Brigade was formed in July 1904 as a result of the Kitchener Reforms, the brigade formed part of the 3rd Division. In 1908, it was redesignated as Ambala Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Brigade In August 1914, the brigade was mobilized as the 3rd Cavalry Brigade and assigned to the 1st Indian Cavalry Division. A new Ambala Brigade was formed in November 1914 as part of the 3rd Lahore Divisional Area to take over the original brigades internal security duties, with 1st Indian Cavalry Division, it departed Bombay on 16 October and landed at Marseilles on 7 November. It concentrated around Orléans on 16 November and was sent up to the Front on 26 November, on 15 September 1915, the brigade swapped places with the 5th Cavalry Brigade from 2nd Indian Cavalry Division. In 1916, the took part in the Battle of the Somme, notably the Battle of Bazentin. In 1917, the took part in the Battle of Cambrai, notably the Tank Attack. At other times it was held in reserve in case of a breakthrough, although it did send parties to the trenches on a number of occasions and they would hold the line, or act as Pioneers, such parties were designated as the Ambala Battalion. Dissolved In March 1918, the brigade was broken up in France, the British units remained in France and the Indian elements were sent to Egypt. On 24 April 1918, these were merged with the 5th Mounted Brigade, on 22 July 1918 the 5th Mounted Brigade was redesignated as 13th Cavalry Brigade and the division as 5th Cavalry Division. F. Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A, the Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions. The World War One Source Book, archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Perry, F. W. Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5B, newport, Gwent, Ray Westlake Military Books. The 1st Indian Cavalry Division in 1914-1918, 1st Indian Cavalry Division on The Regimental Warpath 1914 -1918 by PB Chappell. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008, 2nd Indian Cavalry Division on The Regimental Warpath 1914 -1918 by PB Chappell. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008, cS1 maint, BOT, original-url status unknown 3rd Division on The Regimental Warpath 1914 -1918 by PB Chappell
2.
7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East
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The 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East is a formation in the British Army with a direct lineage to 7th Armoured Brigade and a history that stretches back to the Napoleonic Wars. It saw active service in the Crimean War, the Second Boer War, in 2014, the 7th Armoured Brigade was re-designated as 7th Infantry Brigade, thereby ensuring that the famed Desert Rats continue in the British Armys Order of battle. When Wellington organized his troops into numbered divisions for the Peninsular War, for the Hundred Days Campaign, he numbered his British infantry brigades in a single sequence, 1st to 10th. The 7th Brigade formed part of the 7th Division under the command of Major-general Kenneth MacKenzie, the 7th Brigade formed part of the 4th Division in the Crimean War. After the Relief of Ladysmith, part of the garrison of Ladysmith were reorganized into the 7th Brigade on 10 March 1900, the brigade formed part of Lytteltons 4th Division and took part in Sir Redvers Bullers advance north. In August 1900, it took part in the Battle of Bergendal, post-war, the brigade was reformed in January 1906 as part of the 4th Division, before joining the 3rd Division in Southern Command in 1907. At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 and it mobilized with the division, crossed to France between 11 and 16 August, concentrated around Aulnoye and Avesnes, and moved forward on 21 August 1914. Other than a period when it was reorganized in England in 1918. With the 3rd Division, the took part in a large number of actions in 1914, the Battle of Mons and subsequent retreat including the Action of Solesmes. 1915 was relatively quieter, but included the First Attack on Bellewaarde, Hooge, in 1917 it saw action at the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. On 13 October 1917, 4th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment joined the brigade and on 10 November the 3rd Battalion, on 1 March, the 7th Machine Gun Company joined the 74th, 75th and 195th Machine Gun Companies in the 25th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. Due to a shortage of manpower, all British divisions on the Western Front were reduced from a 12-battalion to a 9-battalion basis in February 1918, as a consequence, 7th Brigade was reduced from four to three battalions. Almost immediately, the German Armys Spring Offensive fell upon the division and it was once again moved south to a quite part of the line where it was attacked for the third time in the Battle of the Aisne. Due to losses sustained, the division was withdrawn from the line, the divisional and brigade HQs returned to England with 10th Cheshires and 10 other Training Cadre battalions, arriving on 30 June. For the 7th Brigade this meant, 10th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment was reduced to Training Cadre on 21 June and went to England with the brigade 4th Battalion, soon after, the T. C. battalions left the brigade for Eastern Command where they were reformed. The brigade HQ returned to France with 25th Division HQ on 15 September, units left behind in France rejoined the division between then and 19 October. The brigade continued in existence throughout the period, seeing numerous changes in its composition and eventually, in the late 1930s. It first saw action against the German Armys offensive in Belgium and France, on 15 September 1941, it was converted to the Guards Support Group
3.
10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles
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The 10th Princess Marys Own Gurkha Rifles, was originally a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. The regiment was first formed in 1890, taking its lineage from a police unit and over the course of its existence it had a number of changes in designation and composition. It took part in a number of campaigns on the Indian frontiers during the 19th and early 20th centuries, before fighting in the First World War, the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the Second World War. Following Indias independence in 1947, the regiment was one of four Gurkha regiments to be transferred to the British Army, in the 1960s it was active in the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation. It was amalgamated with the other three British Gurkha regiments to form the Royal Gurkha Rifles in 1994, at the end of the Third Burmese War in 1887, it was decided to withdraw the regular army battalions and replace them with a freshly recruited military police force. Recruited in India, it was intended that the police would be a temporary force which would establish order in districts of upper Burma. The military police would then be used to form additional battalions of the Indian Army. The Kubo Valley Military Police were raised on 9 April 1887 by Sir F. B, norman at Manipur in India and was composed in equal numbers of Gurkha recruits and Assam hillmen. The first commander was Lieutenant C. W. Harris, the battalion moved to Burma and was initially stationed at Tamu. In 1890, it was decided to convert the Kubo Valley Military Police Battalion in Burma into a new battalion with the title of 10th Madras Infantry, the 10th Madras Infantry, one of the oldest battalions in the Indian Army, had recently been disbanded. The new battalion had no association with the old except for the name, the relics of the battalion were eventually taken back to India. The 10th Madras Infantry was formed from the Kubo Valley Military Police on 1 June 1890 under the command of Major Macgregor at Mandalay Palace, the battalion did not inherit the precedence or honours of the 10th Madras Infantry at that time by decision of the army authorities. Their reasoning being that it would be incorrect to give such a new battalion the precedence, but it was also true that the composition of the 10th Madras Infantry had been through similar drastic changes in composition. For example, after the Mahratta wars, its composition was changed from Northern Indian to Southern Indian, the initial strength of the battalion was three British officers, eight Indian officers and 277 other ranks. It was not at first exclusively Gurkha in composition, the non-Gurkhas were gradually wasted out of the regiment. In its first few years of existence, the regiment was referred to by two different names in the Indian Army Lists, in 1890 it was called the 10th Regiment of Madras Infantry and the following year it was called the 10th Regiment of Madras Infantry. But in reality, the name was the one used by the battalion until 1892. It became the 10th Regiment of Madras Infantry on 9 February 1892 at Maymyo in Burma, on 3 May 1895 the name of the regiment was changed again to 10th Regiment of Madras Infantry to reflect its now all-Gurkha composition
4.
25th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
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The 25th Infantry Brigade was a war-formed infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service during both World War I and World War II. The 25th Brigade was formed in October 1914 just after the outbreak of the First World War with battalions withdrawn from overseas garrisons and it was disbanded in March 1919. The brigade was reformed in November 1939 just after the outbreak of the Second World War and it saw action during the battles of France and Belgium in May 1940, predominantly with the 50th Infantry Division. After being evacuated at Dunkirk, it remained in the United Kingdom with the 47th Infantry Division until it was disbanded at the end of August 1944. The 25th Brigade came into existence on 5 October 1914 as part of the 8th Division shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the brigade concentrated at Hursley Park near Winchester and on 5 and 6 November 1914 it landed at Le Havre. It remained on the Western Front with the 8th Division for the rest of the war, in early 1916, the brigade gained a trench mortar battery and a machine gun company. It then fought on the Somme, notably the Battle of Albert on the first day, in 1917, the brigade took part in operations to follow the Germans in their retreat to the Hindenburg Line. The brigades machine gun company was moved to the divisional 8th Battalion, in addition, British divisions on the Western Front were reduced from a 12-battalion to a 9-battalion basis in February 1918 and the brigade from four to three battalions. Thereafter, the brigade commanded three battalions and a trench mortar battery. 1918 saw the return of the war of movement and it then switched over to counter-attack in the Second Battle of Arras and the Final Advance in Artois in which the 8th Division captured Douai. By the time of the armistice of 11 November 1918, the brigade was Pommeroeul, on 16 November it moved back to Tournai and by 18 December had completed a move to the Ath–Enghien area. Here the division commenced demobilization, a process that was completed on 20 March 1919, initially under War Office Control, on 18 November it moved to France where it joined the Lines of Communication Troops of the British Expeditionary Force. In May 1940, the brigade was assigned to a succession of infantry divisions, 5th, 50th, 3rd, back to the 50th, 46th. The brigade saw action at the Battle of St Omer-La Bassée before it was evacuated at Dunkirk on 31 May 1940, on return to the United Kingdom, the brigade joined the 47th Infantry Division. It remained with the division in the United Kingdom for the rest of its existence, order of Battle of Divisions Part 1. Regiments of the British Army 1939–1945, orders of Battle, Second World War, 1939–1945. The history of 8th Division in 1914-1918
5.
38th (Welsh) Infantry Division
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The 38th Division of the British Army was active during both the First and Second World Wars. The 43rd was renamed the 38th Division on 29 April 1915 and it arrived in France with a poor reputation, seen as a political formation that was ill-trained and poorly led. The divisions baptism by fire came in the first days of the Battle of the Somme and this strongly held German position needed to be secured in order to facilitate the next phase of the Somme offensive, the Battle of Bazentin Ridge. Despite securing its objective, the reputation was adversely affected by miscommunication among senior officers. A year later it made an attack in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. This action redeemed the division in the eyes of the hierarchy of the British military. In 1918, during the German Spring Offensive and the subsequent Allied Hundred Days Offensive, the division attacked several fortified German positions. It crossed the Ancre River, broke through the Hindenburg Line and German positions on the River Selle, ended the war on the Belgian frontier, the division was not chosen to be part of the Occupation of the Rhineland after the war, and was demobilised over several months. It ceased to exist by March 1919, on paper, the division was recreated as the 38th Infantry Division, a duplicate of the 53rd Infantry Division, it formed in September. It was never deployed overseas as a division, having been restricted to home defence duties around the United Kingdom, in 1944, it was disbanded and its units were either deployed or broken up to reinforce the 21st Army Group in Normandy during Operation Overlord. The 38th Division was recreated on 1 September 1944 as the 38th Infantry Division, in this form, the division completed the training of recruits, who were then dispatched overseas as reinforcements. At the end of the war, the division was stood down. On 28 July 1914, the First World War began and on 4 August, Germany invaded Belgium, on 5 August, Herbert Kitchener was appointed Secretary of State for War. This position allowed Kitchener a largely independent role within the war cabinet and his first act, the next day, was to request parliamentary approval to increase the strength of the British Army by 500,000 men. The first wave, originally termed the New Expeditionary Force, became the First New Army, historian Peter Simkins wrote that Kitchener held the Territorial Force in disdain, calling it an ill-trained Town Clerks Army, and this was partially why he set up a parallel recruitment system. Simkins noted that it would be a gross oversimplification to ascribe Kitcheners decision merely to prejudice and ignorance, on 19 September 1914, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George stated publicly that he should like to see a Welsh Army in the field. This thought quickly picked up support from politicians and from Kitchener, the recruits were to be drawn from Wales as well as Monmouthshire and from Welshmen living in Liverpool, London and Manchester. The creation of the corps became a source of dispute between Lloyd George and Kitchener and was never realised due to a lack of potential recruits
